University of Iceland School of Humanities History and Philosophy Island - Best í heimi? Can a critical web series provide meaningful discourse? Final paper for MA-degree in Culture and Communication Peter Bergstedt Kt.: 070979-3679 Supervisor: Sumarliði Ísleifsson & Ármann Gunnarsson September 2017 Abstract This project demonstrates how one person with no money, can inspire a national discourse in Iceland. It aims to do so through the production of a critical web series, a marketing plan intended to make each webisode go viral, which in turn should spark a cultivated online public debate. The web series is based partially on research and interviews, but also on an examination of Icelandic culture, history and the apparent crypto-colonial mindset of the common Icelander. Via the production of a pilot, and the help of a focus group, the rather rough tone of the web series is found. The single finalised webisode is a short, factual and humorous mashup video about the short comings of the Icelandic Student Loans, and it is optimised for maximum viral spread. An extensive SWOT analysis of the launch of the web series concludes, that even if you do everything right, there is no such thing as a guaranteed viral hit. You will always need a little luck, for everything to work as intended. But if you have that, then one person, with a fully researched and well developed message, could very well inspire a national discourse. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 5 Research Problem 6 Method 6 Theory 8 Times Past, and the Rise of a National Identity. 9 Young, Independent and Hungry 13 Present Day Hegemony 16 The Gaze 20 Peter Bergstedt 21 Summarisation 23 Preproduction 26 Terminology 26 Limitations 27 Inspiration 28 Where To Invade Next? (2015) 28 DR3 infomercial - Don`t hate us! (2016) 30 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014 -) 32 Inspired By Progress. 33 Best I Heimi? 36 Research 38 Pilot 41 Evaluation 42 Problems with the method. 44 Webisode 46 Viral Strategy 47 The Plan 47 Launch The SWOT 51 Strengths 52 Weaknesses 53 Opportunities 54 Threats 56 Conclusion 58 Literature 59 Appendix 1 63 DR3 - Don´t Hate Us! 63 Appendix 2 64 Transcribed interview with Ragnar Auðun Árnason 64 Appendix 3 69 Mail interview with Sigurður S. Ásgeirsson (LIN) 69 Appendix 4 72 Pilot Manuscript 72 Appendix 5 75 Online chat interviews - Evaluation of the pilot. 75 !3 Thanks to Wattle and Jesper for proofreading, Marta for everything and as always Áfram Ísland! !4 Introduction This thesis has to come with a disclaimer. When you comment on another country, you can easily come across as being an annoying, ignorant buffoon with no respect for culture, history or national identity. If you, like I do, come from a country, that used to govern the other country up until recent history, this effect is multiplied many times. I risk becoming the old colonial overlord telling the young and independent ex-colony how to do things. This is far from my intent, and if that is the outcome, I have failed. This thesis represents a work of love, and my motivation is solely to inspire a discourse, that I do not intend to be a part of. See, I am not from Iceland. I am from Denmark. In 1944 Iceland became independent from Denmark, and after centuries of being bossed around from Copenhagen, Icelanders have built a rich and functioning modern society. So why do I care? Well, I have married an Icelander. Met a plethora of wonderful Icelandic people, both friends and family. I have been to Iceland many times, and I live there as I am writing this. But as much as I like Iceland and Icelandic culture, there are some aspects I do not understand. One of them is an apparent acceptance of unjust policies, behaviours and facts, that somehow rattles my cage. How can Icelanders accept such a skewed work-life balance? How come Iceland has the most bizarre student loans of the Nordic countries? How come Icelanders re-elect obviously corrupt politicians and so on? I am aware that this is not something uniquely Icelandic. Corruption, weird public contraptions and customs that appear alien to others are found in all countries. I think the size of Iceland is what makes so appealing to me. With just over 300.000 people and an online infrastructure second none, I believe that if someone really put their mind to it, they could change the status quo. I might be wrong of course. Iceland could be just as hard to penetrate as other countries, otherwise someone would have surely done it by now. But maybe a foreigner with nothing at stake and no interest in anything but the betterment of livelihood for the common Icelander, could make something inspirational. Something that !5 would get the Icelanders talking. Something that would make the Icelanders angry enough to push for a change. I am aware that an Icelander living in Denmark could make the same case about things annoying them about Denmark. Live in another country for long enough, and some things will begin to get under your skin. But maybe the foreigner has a valid point, and an informed discourse should never be discouraged. Research Problem Can the crypto-colonial public of Iceland be inspired by a web series, to have a discourse about seemingly unjust policies and matters of national interest? Method Instead of basing my thesis and web series solely on personal experience, and emotions, I will examine Icelandic culture to ensure I dont make any false assumptions. For the web series to be a success, it needs to be in agreement with the Icelandic people, or the message could get lost in disapproving comments. I will observe the Icelander and the Icelandic history through a variety of cultural theories and thinkers. I will then attempt to use this understanding to produce a web series of short, factual and informative videos. These webisodes will be about some of the issues, that I find to be unjust in the Icelandic society. The production of the web series will also explore, how a one man production team can create high impact media without a budget. Theory Research !6 Within the confines of this thesis I will produce one full webisode. I will research the subject thoroughly, and talk to people of interest for a better understanding of the issue. I will make a pilot first, as I would like to find right tone before producing the actual webisode. To evaluate on the pilot, I will use a focus group of young Icelanders aged 20-30, as they have the lowest voter turn out1. I would like to target them in particular, and motivate them to take an active part in the future of their country. The focus group will allow me to adjust the webisode accordingly, so the accompanying discourse can be as pure as possible. Iceland is the country in world with most people on Facebook per capita2. Therefore, for maximum impact, I will publish the videos online, and create a viral strategy aimed at maximising views, likes and most importantly comments. Then it is time to launch the web series. Within the context of this thesis, I won’t actually upload the webisodes and implement the viral strategy, but I will make an in-depth SWOT analysis, to imagine how the project would fare once released upon the world. 1 Accessed January 25, 2017, https://hagstofa.is/utgafur/frettasafn/kosningar/ althingiskosningar-29-oktober-2016/ 2 Accessed December 18, 2016, http://grapevine.is/news/2016/01/29/iceland-tops-the- world-in-per-capita-internet-use/ !7 Theory Since meeting my Icelandic wife, I have spent eight years closely observing Icelandic culture and people. Slowly I started to see some connections in my observations. I noticed with wonder how people, especially family, just came knocking on our door without a prior agreement. Something that I have never seen in Denmark. I saw how people, even the young, celebrate New Year’s Eve with their family which is another thing I rarely, if ever, see in Denmark. These two observations (and many others), have led me to believe that Iceland is more family orientated than Denmark. Still they are just observations made by one person, and even though they have been somehow backed up in conversations with others, it is clear I need a more solid foundation for my web series. In this chapter I will explore Icelandic culture, in order to establish some sort of academic backdrop for the web series. This would allow me to find themes I should stay clear of, areas I should exploit or maybe find an explanation as to why things are as I have come to believe they are. This is by no means an easy task, and there are many factors at play. History, geography, people and culture are all important when trying to understand present day Iceland. Trying to figure out, what makes a country tick is hard, but it is impossible to do truthfully unless the observer also takes a look at himself. Perhaps something that is a flaw to a Dane is a virtue for a Mexican. I will try to understand my own view of Iceland, in an effort to avoid tainting my findings. Finally, I will summarise the most important discoveries, and contemplate how I could use them in the web series. I will try to keep this chapter organised, which will be no mean feat, as the different areas constantly overlap. Therefore I have created a visualisation of the contents of this chapter (seen below) !8 Times Past, and the Rise of a National Identity.